Educational device



A. L. RUNYAN. EDUCATIONAL DEVICE- APPLICATION FILED DEC. 30. 1918- 7 1,354,692, Patented Oct. 5, 1920,

2 SHEETSSHEET l.

5 vwemtoz ARTHUR L. RuNYAM,

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amumg A. L. RUNYAN. EDUCATIONAL DEVICE.

l'yassggo APPLICATIOMfILED DEC.30. SH l. Oct. 5

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ARTHUR L. RUNYAN, witness;

ARTHUR L. RUNYAN, OE OMAHA, NEBRASKA.

EDUCATIONAL DEVICE.

Application filed December 30, 1918.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ixRTHUR L. RUNYAN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Omaha in the county of Douglas and State of Nebraska, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Educational Devices, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to educational devices, for use in the instruction of children in primary and kindergarten grades in the subjects of spelling and reading, and for use in more advanced grades for instruction in simple arithmetical operations. It is the object of my invention to provide a simple and inexpensive device or machine having magazines for containing each a plurality of similar lettered or charactered blocks, and provided with suitable key mechanism for ejecting the blocks one at a time, in combination with a boarder support for holding a plurality of the charactered blocks in displayed positions, the arrangement being such that the blocks are automatically placed upon a part of the board by the operation of the key mechanism, and so that the blocks may be distributed to the magazines directly from another portion of the board.

A machine embodying my invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a vertical section of the mechanism with a key in depressed position, Figs. 2 and 3 are partial views similar to Fig. 1, but showing the key mechanism in different operating positions, Fig. 4: is a partial front elevation of the machine, Fig. 5 is a detail section on the plane of the line 55 of Fig. 1, and Fig. 6 is a detail section on the line 6-6 of Fig. 1. 1

In the illustrated structure I provide a suitable base 10 on which is secured a casing 11, on the upper portion of which there is mounted fixedly a slightly inclined support 12 having a series of uniform, horizontally extending, vertically spaced steps, or ledges 13 formed on the face thereof. Said support is preferably of sheet metal, bent as shown to form the steps or ledges 13. At the back of the support there are arranged a plurality of substantially rectangular magazine tubes or chutes 14, each adapted to receive slidably a pile or column of charactered blocks 15, the same being preferably approximately square in front elevation but with the corners slightly rounded or beveled, as shown, and being of such thickness that Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 5, 1920.

Serial No. 268,982.

they may rest one upon another edgewise, without having a tendency to overlap or in the magazines. Near the upper edge of the support 12, and in transverse register with the upper ends of the several magazine tubes, there are openings 16 of such size that the blocks 15 may be pushed through the same into the magazines, so as to descend by gravity to the top of the pile or column of blocks contained in the respective tubes. At the lower end of each magazine tube there is a plunger having a rectangular head-portion 17 and laterally spaced tail-pieces 18 which are connected by a pair of pins 19. The plungers are each held by suitable guides 20 so as to be slidable at right angles to the magazine tube, from a position at which the front end of the head 17 is in line with the rear side of the tube as shown in Fig. 1, to a position at which the face or front end of the plunger-head is even with the front edge of the lower step or ledge 13 of the support, as shown in Fig. 3. Beneath the rear portion of the plunger-guides 20 a shaft 21 extends transversely through the casing 11, and upon said shaft there is pivotally mounted a rocking-lever 22 for each of the plungers and magazine tubes. One arm of each of the levers 22 extends upwardly so as to pass between the tail-pieces 18 and pins 19 of the respective plunger. The other arm of each lever extends forwardly and has pivotally connected with the end thereof a bar 23 which extends upwardly and is inclined rearwardly so as to be substantially parallel with the magazine tube, the upper portion of the bar being slidable between guides formed by a portion 24 of the plunger-guide, and a portion 25 of the front plate or" the casing. Within the front portion of the casing 11 a shaft 26 extends transversely through the same, and upon said shaft are pivoted key-levers 27, each having a front portion which extends up through a slot in the casing and carries a head 28. The rear portion of each key-lever extends alongside the intermediate portion of the forward end of the respective rocking-lever 22,- and is connected therewith by means of a pin 29 which extends from the side of the rocking-lever into a short slot in the end of the key-lever. A spring 30 is provided or each key-lever, as shown, and normally holds the same in the raised position indicated in Fig. 3.

The keys or heads 28 of the key-levers are marked with suitable characters, such as numbers or the letters of the alphabet, and corresponding characters 31 are marked at the upper end of the respective magazine tubes, so that said characters are visible from the front of themachine, throiwh the openings 16, as indicated in Fig. 4c. plurality of the charactered blocks 15 are provided for each magazine, said blocks having, of course, the same characters thereonas the key and the indicator-mark 31 of the respective magazine. ,If desired eachof the blocks 15- may have different characters, such as a letter and a number, on the front and rear faces thereof, the key and magazine for such blocks being marked with both characters, similarly to typewriter keys havingindiicia' for both upper-case and lowercase types.

The operation of the key mechanism p lilll 'rearwardly and, at the intermediate position shown in Fig. 2, engages the rear pin 19-, thereafter moving the plunger rearwardly until at the end of the stroke the parts are in the positions shown in Fig. 1, and the column of blocks 15 may descend until the lowermost block rests on the guide 20' in front of the plunger-head. Upon releasing the key, the parts return to the normal position shown in Fig. 3, the plunger being moved forward and pushing theblock in front of it into the space above the end of the bar or front plunger 23. Then, for each subsequent depression of the key the block at the top of the front-plunger 28 is pushed up from behind the guide 25 to the level of the lowermost ledge 13, so that at the conclusion of the downward movement of the key said block is deposited on said ledge; The block may then be moved to any desired position upon the support 12 by merely sliding it over the face thereof. The various ledges 13 form convenient means for supporting the character-blocks in horizontally alined rows, so that words or combinations of numbers may be readily formed by the use of the appropriately marked blocks. After the use of the blocks to form the desired combinations of letters, words, numbers or the like, the blocks may be redistributed into the magazines by sliding the blocks: over the face of the support to the.

appropriate openings 16 indicated by the characters 31. The use of the machine as an .accessoryin teaching spelling, reading,

simple arithmetical operations and the like, will be apparent from the foregoing, without further explanation.

It may be here noted that, if desired, the

support 12 may be made of sheet-iron, and

the character-blocks made of magnetized steel, or with magnetized portions, such that the blocks will tend to adhere magnetically to the support. Obviously, should the magnetized blocks be employed, the magazine tubes should be of non-magnetic material, such as brass or aluminum, sothat the blocks will not adhere thereto.

Now, having described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a mechanism of the class described, the combination with a plurality of charactered blocks, and a displaying support having a front face provided with means for sustaining said blocks a substantially com-monplane, of a series of magazines for said blocks located in rear of and substantially concealed by the said support and having feed'openings thereto from a portion of the support, key mechanism for each magazine, and ejecting devices actuated by said key mechanism and adapted to remove the blocks serially from the magazine and place them upon a part of the support.

2. In a mechanism of the class described, a plurality of magazine tubes, each adapted to. receive slidably a pile of charactered blocks, key-controlled ejectingv mechanism for displacing said blocks serially from the respective magazine tubes, and an inclined plate having ledges for receiving the blocks and onto one of which the blocks are delivered directly from the ejecting mechanism.

3. In a machine of the class described, a magazine adapted to receive slidably a columnar pile of charactered blocks disposed therein so as to descend by gravity to the .bottom thereof, a plunger disposed at the bottom of said magazine and movable to eject single blocks laterally therefrom, a second plunger operating at an angle to the said plunger and arranged to engage the blocks ejected by the first plunger and movable to actuate said blocks in a direction substantially parallel with the magazine,.

and a support arranged in front of the magazine to receive the blocks from the second plunger and having means for sustaining the same in displayed position, said arm of said an le-lever and movable across the end of the magazine to eject single blocks laterally therefrom, a second plunger connected with said anglelever and movable thereby in a direction parallel with the magazine and across the end of the first plunger, a key-lever connected with said anglelever and movable to actuate the same, and supporting means extending substantially parallel with the magazine, the second plunger being adapted to move a block onto said support after displacing the block from in front of the first plunger.

5. In a machine of the class described, a plurality of sets of key mechanism each comprising a key-lever, a spring for holding said lever in raised position, an angle lever actuated by said key-lever, two plungers aetuatable by said angle-lever, said plungers movable substantially at right angles with each other and arranged to approach a common point alternately, and a gravity-feed magazine for each set of keymechanism, said magazine having its lower end in the path of one of the plungers, whereby a block may be ejected from the magazine by upward movement of the respective key-lever, and said block actuated by the other plunger during downward movement of the key-lever.

6. In a machine of the class described, a plurality of magazines each adapted to receive slidably a plurality of charactered blocks, key-controlled ejecting mechanism for each magazine adapted to displace the blocks serially therefrom, and a support onto which the blocks are movable by the ejecting mechanism, said support having therein feed-apertures through which the blocks may be returned to the magazines.

7. In a mechanism of the class described, a plurality of charactered blocks, an inclined plate having vertically spaced horizontal ledges adapted to support the blocks in alined rows, a series of magazines for said blocks, and key-actuated ejecting mechanism for each magazine adapted to deliver blocksserially therefrom onto one of the ledges of the inclined plate.

8. In a mechanism of the class described, a plurality of charaetered blocks, a series of magazinetubes each adapted to receive slidably a pile of the blocks, a plate adapted to support series of the blocks in edge-toedge position thereon, said plate being disposed in proximity to the magazine-tubes so that the ends of the latter are near opposite ed es of the plate, ke vactuated mechanism for each magazine adapted to serially deliver blocks from the respective magazine onto a portion of the plate, and means enabling delivery of the blocks directly from the plate into the magazines.

9. A machine of the class described including a display support having a front for displaying the said face provided with vertically spaced means extending across the support for supporting blocks in a substantially common plane for displaying the said blocks, a plurality of block receiving magazines located in rear of the support and extending from the upper to the lower portion thereof, and key actuated ejecting mechanism arranged at the lower ends of the magazine and provided with means for moving the blocks forwardly from the magazines to a point in advance of the support and for transferring the blocks from such position to the supporting means of the said support.

10. A machine of the class described including a display support having a front face provided with vertically spaced means extending across the support for supporting blocks in a substantially common plane blocks, said support being also provided at the upper portion with apertures, a plurality of block receiving magazines communicating with the said apertures to permit blocks to be passed from the support into the magazines, said magazines extending from the said apertures to the lower portion of the support, and key actuated ejecting mechanism pro vided with means for moving the blocks forwardly from the magazines to a point in advance of the support and for transferring the blocks from such position to the supporting means of the said support.

11. A machine of the class described including a display support having a front face provided with vertically spaced means extending across the support for supporting blocks in a substantially common plane for displaying the said blocks, said support being also provided at the upper portion with apertures, a plurality of block receiving magazines communicating with the said apertures to permit blocks to be passed from the support into the magazines, said magazines extending from the said apertures to the lower portion of the support, and key actuated mechanism including plungers operating at substantially right angles to move the blocks forwardly from the magazines to a point in advance of the support and to carry the blocks upwardly onto the said supporting means.

12. A machine of the class described including an inclined support provided at its front face with vertically spaced ledges extending across the support, a plurality of block receiving magazines arranged in rear of the support and extending from the upper to the lower portion thereof and provided at the lower portion of the said support with outlets. and key actuated ejecting mechanism for the magazines comprising a pair of plungers operating at substantially right angles to successively actuate a block to move the same forwardly from a maga- 4: tense zine to a point in advance of the support and then upwardly onto one of the said ledges, a key, and means for transmitting movement from the key to the plunger-s for actuating the same. 1 v

o 13. A machine of the class described including a' displaying support provided at the top with a plurality of apertures and having'vertically spaced supporting means extending across the front face ofthe support, a plurality of block receiving magazines arranged at the back of the support and extending from the apertures to the lower portion of the support, and provided at the said lower portion with outlets, said apertures permitting blocks to be placed in the magazines, and key actuated ejecting mechanism comprising a plurality ofkeys extending in advance of the support, and means actuated by the keys for moving the blocks forwardly through the said outlets to a point in advance of the support and for transferring the blocks from such position to the said supporting means.

ARTHUR L. RUNYAN. 

